Darts of Pleasure
by PsychoRiddler
Summary: A songfic Darts of Pleasure by Franz Ferdinand about the complications of the relationship between Ginny and Tom. Tom comes back when she's 16. What will happen? Is he real or just imaginary, a haunting ghost Ginny desires? I DEEPLY APPRECIATE REVIEWS. Tx
1. Growing up and Confusion

Disclaimer: I do not own JK Rowling's characters nor do I own Franz Ferdinand's song, although it would be cool if I were able to write such a song.

Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a songfic, with the story of Tom and Ginny's bond. The song is Darts of Pleasure by Franz Ferdinand. If you have not listened to it yet, then I recommend you do!

Ginny Weasley was in her sixth year, sixteen years old. She was no longer vulnerable little Ginny, small and quiet. She had become mature, elegant Ginny, to the surprise of many . She was much taller now, and she actually looked grown up. She did not only change physically but psychologically and emotionally as well. After her first year, she seemed to be little affected and disturbed by the incident with Tom Riddle, but little did people know that she truly was. She hid her inner turmoil very easily from others, hoping that noone would come to realize that she greatly suffered. But to her luck, it no longer bothered her, nor did it torment her anywhere as much as it used to. And of course, she was grateful for not having to be under such a strong but possibly pleasing curse.

One day, on an early day of school, Ginny realized that Harry himself was growing into a man, and she was pleased with that. She remembered her first year, when she had an embarrassingly huge crush on him. Back then, she found him cute, but she now decided he was good looking. She regained her feelings for him after spending most of the day with him, and couldn't stop thinking about him since.

When she could not fall asleep, she would be in bed, thinking about him.

'Oh Harry, my first love. Probably my last as well,' she thought.

But a voice creeped inside her, a smooth voice, as chilling as ice.

"I think not, my dear," it said.

Shivers slid down her spine. She turned around to see if someone had intruded her room but there was noone. She was certain she had only imagined the voice, and nothing more. She did not have to think hard to figure out whose voice it belonged to. It was Tom Riddle's, of course. There were days when she remembered him very well, and many days when she forgot him completely. Sometimes, it took time to remember him. Sometimes, she had to dig deep. She remembered when she was twelve years old. She thought of him as a crush, as a friend who completely understood, nothing more. When it turned out he deceived her, she did not know what to think. She felt sharp pains of betrayal. She felt stupid. She felt ridiculous. She felt broken inside. Her only friend turned out to be Lord Voldemort, an evil wizard who was using her, manipulating her… She told herself she hated him and that she hated nothing more but it was actually a lot more complicated than that. Her thoughts about him would always be confusing, blended with both love and hate together.

A week passed by. There was to be a school masquerade dance around Halloween time, which was coming soon, and Ginny realized she was thinking of Tom more than she had done so in the past year or two. She could not escape the thought of his handsome face and his elegant figure. Besides, what was wrong with liking bad guys? Well, a lot was wrong with it of course, but if it meant she had to decide…she would probably give up all the good in the world just to be with him.  
She remembered when she wrote to him in his diary. She constantly reminded him of how great a companion he was and that what he did made her happy. He promised to come back but he never did. Not yet anyway.

It was a day in very early October at lunch when Harry had asked her something, something that confused her even more. The two of them were outside, alone together, on the Hogwarts school grounds. It was somewhat cold, and the wind was strong enough to whip someone's hair. The sky was of a strange kind of light blue, with a hint of scarlet, and the surrounding enormous trees were of various blazing colours, from red to orange, from yellow to a mixture of all colours. The entire atmosphere was beautiful, as the multicoloured leaves were blown in the wind, and to the ground. Harry and Ginny were taking a promenade. They stopped at a nearby bench and sat down.

"Ginny?"

"Yes?"

Harry glanced around nervously, trying to come up with the right words to say. "You know, this year, for seventh years, there's this um…masquerade ball at Halloween…"

Ginny tried to conceal her smile, but could not. She knew he was going to ask her to be his date.

"Well…do you um…think you can…well…you know…"

"Finish what you have to say, Harry."

"You think you can go with me? As er…um…a date?"

Ginny's grin grew even bigger. It was confirmed.

"Of course I'll go with you," she replied without a moment's hesitation. She looked deeply into his vivid green eyes.

"Thanks, Gin. It means a lot, you know that."

She wanted to sit by his side for a moment longer and be alone with him, but they heard a shout. It was obvious that the voice belonged to Ron.

"Harry! Ginny!"

She clenched her teeth, substantially aggravated, as Ron ran up to them.

"Hey Ron, what's up?" Harry asked as Ginny continued to glower.

"I've been looking for you all over the place! Hermione's too busy studying." Ron made an annoyed look and rolled his eyes at the fact that Hermione studied all the time.

Harry laughed calmly. "Alright. Let's head back inside then."

Harry stood up from his seat. Ginny sat, planted, unwilling to move, unwilling to escape the moment they just had, the moment that could go further.

"What's wrong with you, Gin? C'mon, let's go!" Ron said impatiently.

She got up, realizing that they would never notice her frustration, and slowly followed them back to the building as Harry and Ron did their usual small talk, ignoring everything else around them.

As soon as they got inside, Ginny fled straight to her dormitory room without a word, confusing the two boys. She plopped on her bed, infuriated and sad. She only shared her room with one other girl, but that girl had gone on vacation to a wide range of Asian countries from Cambodia to Thailand, from Japan to China, and did not plan to come back for another two months or so.Because of this, Ginny was alone, and had noone to talk to, nor did she have anyone to comfort her. Did she really feel for Harry, or was it just another simple crush that would easily go away? She was hoping that he'd profess his love for her, his feelings for her…but he did not. Perhaps if her idiot of an older brother Ron had not rudely interrupted, Harry might have done so. He might have even given her a kiss, her first kiss ever! She was sixteen, it was about time! She's thought about it before, several times even, in bed when she could not fall asleep. She had nothing else to think about. It was either Harry or it was _him_. Yes, _him_.

She shook her head, as if trying to shake the memories and thoughts away. No. Thinking about him was crazy! She was over him, for sure! She was _definitely_ over him. He was something old, something back then…something nobody cared about anymore. In the past. She lay down on her bed, trying to relaxe herself, but it did not work. Bouts of memories and fantasies buzzed around her, speedily navigating her mind. It was all a blur. She shook her head once more and sat up. She wanted to continue to lie down and think about everything more clearly, putting all the pieces back together, but she had no choice but to attend class. She knew that she would spend hours trying to re-piece everything together, to reminisce the past haunting memories, and to imagine all the despicable fantasies, so she stood up and got her books prepared.

It was the last class of that day, and the minutes went by slowly. She was seated in her Potions class, where the lessons took part in a dank dungeon. The dungeon seemed to be a very forbidding room where the sounds of waterdrops _pitter_ and _patter_ would be head once in a short while because of a broken water pipe. It was obviously annoying, but the students have been so used to it that they couldn't hear anything anymore unless they would listen very carefully.  
Severus Snape, the Potions teacher, was repeating the instructions for the potions people were brewing. Despite his effort to get everyone's attention and to make them listen, students were loud and rude. There were the frequent insults that were thrown back and forth between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors, and the occasional noises of people screaming and explosions. There was a very rusty clock that hung on the side of the room, but amazingly, it still worked. Ginny glanced at it practically every minute or two, so desperately anxious for class to end, hardly aware of the chaos that surrounded her. All she had on her mind was Tom and Harry. There was nothing else. She daydreamed a bit during that day while teachers would be giving lessons, but she was ready for full fantasizing. She wanted to go straight to bed, fantasize, and fall asleep with strangely sweet dreams. There were twenty minutes left until class would end. For the potion, she was partners with a girl named Macy Debroskov, a kind girl who worked hard at school and usually kept to herself. As she had been working on the potion by herself for almost fifteen minutes, she was curious as to why Ginny did so little work.

"Ginny, why do you keep watching that clock?"

"Hm?"

"Why do you keep staring at that clock?"

Ginny turned around, not realizing that she had been so attached to it. "Oh." She blushed as a small embarrassed smile crept up her lips. "I'm sorry. I was just hoping for class to finish…you know?"

Macy smiled. "You've got a date or something?"

The red headed girl smiled even harder. "Not quite. I'm sorry. Let me help you with that potion."

They worked together on the potion. She tried hard to avoid gazing at that clock. She focused on the work that had to be done and the potion was well done. Snape had been pacing around, supervising people and critizing their work. He stopped his steps at the table the girls occupied. He looked down their cauldron and gave the potion a sniff.

"Very good…" he admitted, a bit of a frown on his face. He was disappointed about their good work, having something against Gryffindors.

He then went to the next table. Macy drew a breath of relief as Ginny watched clock. Five minutes left. Only five minutes. Who knew that five minutes could seem like such a long time?

"Who is it? Henry Stapleton?" Macy asked.

Ginny turned to face her and gave a disgusted face. Her friend laughed. "No, not Henry Stapleton. That's kind of disgusting."

"What about…Harry Potter?"

Ginny froze. It was _sort of_ Harry Potter, but it was really something much more. Macy realized the truth by taking note of her silence.

"Oh I know you've had a crush on him for years. What? Like six years?"

"I did _not_. Only in the first year, but not anymore." She shook her head vigorously, not sure whether she was trying to convince Macy or herself. "I've gone over him. He was just a silly crush. Something meaningless, that's all."

"Ouch. I thought he meant more to you than that. If not a crush, then at least a very good friend."

"I can't say 'very good', but he's somewhat of a friend." '_At least not good enough of a friend to talk to without having Ron around._' Ginny thought silently. She always meant something different to him when Ron was around. Always.

Suddenly, the bell rang. Ginny looked up at the clock. School was over. Now she had all the hours to use for fantasizing. She could put off work to the next day. Students madly rushed out of the classroom-or dungeon, for that matter. Ginny took her belongings and walked out quickly herself. She wanted to get to her dormitory room as fast as she could without having any disturbances in the way. As she hurriedly tried to make her way to her destination, she bumped into somebody. None other than Harry Potter himself.

A/N: Please review, I'd very much appreciate it. Please tell me what you think! But, of course, I plan to continue this story because I'm only getting started. This is just the beginning. The lyrics will soon come, don't worry.


	2. His Voice

A/N: Yes. _He_ is coming soon.

Last time: She wanted to get to her dormitory room as fast as she could without having any disturbances in the way. As she hurriedly tried to make her way to her destination, she bumped into somebody. None other than Harry Potter himself…

She wanted to shout and swear, but decided it was not appropriate. She looked up. He stood before her, of medium height, average looking, dull green eyes hidden behind geeky framed glasses, boring black hair… She was angry at him. Why did he have to act like she meant nothing to him when Ron was there? Why did he ask her to the dance? Why not Hermione? Why did he ask her to something that could have meant so much more, after all these years?

"Ginny."

"What, Harry?" she asked, trying with much difficulty to hide her irritation.

She wanted nothing more than to go straight to her bed. It wasn't Harry that she wanted to fantasize about, but someone else.

"I know Ron kind of um…disrupted us today when we were talking and I was thinking…well…you know."

"No, actually I don't."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Maybe we can continue this talk um…later? Tomorrow at lunch, let's say?"

"I'll think about it," she finally said, and strode off.

She arrived to her dormitory room, put her books away, and lay down. She gave an exasperated sigh. Why couldn't Harry be more like…_him_? Yes, that's right. _Him_.

She played with her hair for a bit, twirling the strands of fiery red with a finger. A knock rapped on her door. She froze.

"Ginny? Are you in here?" she heard someone cry from right outside the door. It was Hermione.

Ginny did not know what to do so she decided to speak up. "Um…yes."

"Well are you coming down for supper? It's about to start."

"Um…yeah."

Ginny got up, disappointed, and reached for the door.

At the Gryffindor table, she was terribly distracted. She ate very little, and when she did, she did it in a very stingy manner. Hermione, being observant, noticed, and was confused.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh…nothing."

"Wow. It's funny how nothing can put you in such a bad mood," Hermione laughed. "Really, Gin, it's not that hard to miss."

"Today's just a bad day, that's all."

Harry, who was in the middle of a conversation with Ron, picked those last words of hers up. He seriously hoped that him asking Ginny to the masquerade did not make her day go bad…or was it because Ron had ruined everything?

"Well…do you want to talk about it?" Hermione asked.

'No,' Ginny thought. 'That's the last thing I want. All I want right now is to go straight to bed and dream about _him_.' But instead of saying all that, she brushed it with a "no."

As soon as the dinner was over, she left the table without a word. She did not even bid any of her friends goodnight or farewell, nor did she bother to answer when Hermione called after her.

She went straight up to her room, got changed, made sure the room was completely dark, and went to bed. She tried to close her eyes and sleep, but was unable to. So, instead, she lay there, thinking. Damn that Harry. Damn him. Why was he so ashamed to be with her? What was he afraid of? Numerous questions plagued her mind. What was worse was that there were no answers to such awful questions. Then Tom suddenly came into mind. Oh yes. _Him_. Ginny herself was ashamed to admit that she still felt something for him, but she did. It was _obvious_. And why was she so ashamed? Was it because…he was evil and she was raised to be good? Was it because…he had never liked her, and that he had only used her for his own benefit?  
Perhaps it was a mix of both answers. The truth was painful, too painful for her to bear. She poured out her soul to him, she poured out everything she had to him, yet he gave her nothing. But, perhaps, she had only used him for _her_ own benefit? Just to make herself feel good? To feel secure? The truth became more complicated…and more excruciating. It was too much. It was just too much.  
She felt her eyes go watery and tears stream down her cheeks. She could feel the pillow beginning to moist.

"Don't cry," she heard a voice calmly say not that far off. The voice was nearby, in that very room, sounding very empathetic.

She froze, not knowing whether if Tom was really there or not. She slowly turned her head the other way, surveying the room, but could not. It was almost pitch black. Her breathing grew louder and heavier. It was the only thing she heard. Then, she felt a ghostly touch against her cheek, like a gentle stroke of a finger. _Tom's_ finger. Her breathing stopped. It was no longer heard. The room was completely silent.

"Tom…are you there?"

For a moment, there was no reply. Then came one.

"Yes."

"What are you doing here?"

"Why, to see you of course."

It was unbelievable. Memories flooded back, sharply and painfully, but some were happy and pleasing, some were of great comfort.

"No. I don't believe it," she said quietly. "I'm imagining everything. You can't just come back like that. That's impossible."

"Believe what you want," she heard him say as she felt another stroke on her cheek.

"Why me?" she quietly sobbed. Her tears never ceased to flow.

"Shhh…You're the only girl whom I've ever had a real connection to… The only one I can trust."

He spoke with so much fervour yet he pronounced his words so quietly…so softly…

"But why now?"

"I've only been able to get back to you now. I know…it's been what…? Five years?"

"This is a dream," she told herself out loud. "A fantasy. A figment of my imagination."

"Believe whatever you want, my dear, but this _is_ real."

If he were real, he should have a form, right? She wanted to get up, turn on the light, and look at his face, his entire body, and touch it to see whether it was real or not. But all she knew now was that his voice existed, and nothing else. She was too afraid to turn on the light, to see that haunting face once again…

"Why do you come when I can't see your face?" she asked bravely.

"I come when you want me to, but only at night."

"I want to see your face, I want to look at you!" she shouted impatiently.

"Then next time, leave your blinds open, and you will see me."

"And will you let me touch you?"

"Why of course."

A smile spread over her lips. "What do I do now?"

"You sleep," he said soothingly.

So she closed her eyes and almost instantly fell into a very nice comfortable sleep…

A/N: The lyrics are not here yet…but will come soon…when they need to.


	3. Why Now?

She awoke, feeling happy and refreshed. She dreamed about herself being with um…_him_, of course. But when she opened her eyes and began to realize the truth, a frown quickly overshadowed her face. The room was bright, and it would have been much brighter if she had not covered the windows with curtains. She was sad. The truth was that he was no longer there to comfort her, to make her feel happy. He was gone, nowhere to be seen in the room, and she had no choice but to get over herself and get ready to go to class.

She was striding in the hallway with her books when someone called her name.

"Ginny!"

She flinched at the voice, stopped, and turned around to face no other than Harry Potter himself.

"Yes, Harry?"

"Do you want to talk later? At lunch, I mean?"

"Oh yeah…um…I don't know if that's safe."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want Ron to come back and ruin everything again."

"Gin, I promise he won't this time."

"Whatever there is to continue, it will continue at the masquerade, alright!" Ginny said harsher than she had meant to.

She left him standing there, stunned and confused.

At lunch time, after eating at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, Ron and Harry had a talk in their dormitory room when noone was around.

"Do you know what's up with your sister lately?" Harry asked.

"Oh please Harry, there's always something going on with that girl."

"But she acted all strange on me, like she's angry or something."

Ron shrugged. "Hormones, I guess. I mean, she's a teenager. What do you expect?"

"Do you think she's angry at…well, um…me?"

Ron raised his eyebrows. A sign of confusion. "Why would she be angry at you?"

The whole masquerade date thing was a secret Harry kept from Ron. Ron, being of course the older brother, would be very protective of his younger sister. (A/N: I mean, how would you feel if your little sister was going out with your best friend?)

Harry shrugged and gave a small smile. "Uh…no reason."

His best friend looked at him suspiciously before they moved on to another topic.

It was after school that day. Ginny was alone, walking to the Gryffindor Common Room from class. On her way, she bumped into Hermione, who seemed a bit angry and worried at the same time.

"Hello Ginny."

"Hi Hermione"

"I've been meaning to find you, you know. I'm worried about you. Is everything… alright?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't it be?" Ginny asked more rudely than intended.

"You weren't yourself yesterday. You looked upset, like you had something on your mind."

"Bad mood, that's all."

Hermione shook her head, disbelieving. "No, there's more to it than that."

"Ok, you're right. I was upset. It was just Harry, that's all."

"Oh? What did he do?"

"It's more like what he didn't do," Ginny said, her expression turning stern. She then broke down. She was bawling very much, her eyes red, her tears flowing endlessly. "For God's sakes, he never pays attention to me! When Ron's around, he pretends I'm not there. He acts like I'm nothing!"

"Are you…trying to say something, Ginny?"

"Even as a friend, he just totally ignores me. I would be his second choice. I'm always his second choice. He just uses me. I do fancy him though. Yes, I admit that."

Hermione sighed. "Boys. What are you going to do?" She smiled, but the smile did not look convincing enough. "What do you mean…he uses you?"

Ginny took a moment to explain. "When we're alone, it's like I mean something to him. He takes that advantage by asking me to that Halloween masquerade only the seven year students go to. Then he just brushes me away, like I mean nothing to him."

Hermione's eyes grew wide. It was uncertain whether her eyes grew wide because of excitement or something else.

"Well…are you going with him?" Hermione asked, curious.

"I guess. I told him yes, but that was before I acted kind of rude to him. But he deserved it for treating me like that."

"Well, you shouldn't act too quick on it, Ginny. I think you're just overreacting a bit. You'll mean something more to him soon. I'm sure of it. Just forget about him ignoring you. It's too soon to say anything."

That night, Ginny was in her dormitory room, prepared to go to sleep. A small, plain white candle stood on the nightstand by the bed, lit with a small but powerful flame. The rest of the room was mainly dark, but the curtains were drawn open this time. There was a bit of light that seeped through the window. The light was of the moon, a pure white glaze. She was seated on her bed, brushing her wildly red hair. It was extremely long, but scorchingly beautiful. It was so red that it looked like it could burn. No other girl in the school had hair like that. With the last stroke of the brush, and her hair completely sleek and silky, she lay down and went under the covers, prepared to sleep. She did not, however, blow the lit candle. She was, of course, waiting for a certain someone to come. She wanted to see his face.  
She was in bed. She waited and waited. It seemed like an eternity. After an hour or so, her eyes grew heavy. She struggled to keep them open, but was no longer able to. She was too tired and weary. Finally, the candle's flame had burnt out, and the room was dark with the exception of the light that flowed through the window.  
Her eyes were probably closed for a minute or two when she heard a voice. _His_ voice, that is.

"Ginny…"

_You are the latest contender  
You are the one to remember  
You are the villain who sends her  
Light or dark, fantastic passion_

Her eyes slowly opened. The room was still very dark. Perhaps there was a form under the moonlight. It was hard to tell.

"Tom? I can't see you."

There was a moment of silence. A small blow of breath was heard, and the candle was relit. There stood Tom, right before her very eyes. However, he was not solid. He was still faint. He stood beside her bed, a grin spread across his lips. The licking flames of the candle cast flickering light upon his face. What was strange was the fact that his body offered no shadows.

"Finally…I can see your face," Ginny said.

His face was simply beautiful, carrying extremely eloquent features, face that would be remembered forever. His body was also of a slender, flawless form. His hair was strangely and dangerously jet black, (the kind that was uncommon for most English people) a colour that seemed to match with his eccentric yet sharp grey eyes. His skin was incredibly fair, a very white but healthy skin, and not to mention oddly smooth. He gave a smile, one that penetrated the hearts of many, especially that of Ginny Weasley.

"Are you not glad I'm back?" he asked, his smile still remaining.

She looked at him and did not answer. Instead, she cried. She bit her lip as tears leaked down her supple white cheeks, hinted with a blushing pink. Tom looked concerned. He _actually_ appeared to be worried about her.

"Ginny, what's wrong?"

"Oh nothing…"

He sat down on her bed, attempting to look into her eyes.

"It's funny how nothing can affect you this much…"

She sat up and explained with a sob, "Why are you doing this to me? Why do you come to me after so many years? Can you imagine what I'm feeling right now? Do you know how much it hurts at the moment?"

There was another moment of silence. He stared at her, his eyes filled with a terrible intensity, piercing into her skin, gazing into her very soul.

"Ah…" he said quietly. "So you do believe I'm here, that I exist."

"I don't have much of a choice. You stand before me, as real as anyone can be."

He was real. He had to be real. There was no other explanation for this. But one question remained, no matter how many times it had been asked.

'Why now?' she thought. That was the most important question, the most bitter of them all.

He took a delicate finger of his and gently moved her hair out of her face. He then stroked her cheek. He did all this wordlessly. It was scary how much effect he had on her.

"It doesn't have to hurt. It shouldn't," he whispered.

"I don't think you should see me anymore," she said. The remark seemed to have come from nowhere.

There was dead silence. Tom froze, watching the girl very closely. Her words had stung him.

"And why is that?"

"It hurts too much."

"Is that what you really want? For me to leave and to never come back? Tell me, Ginny."

"No."

"Well then?"

She did not respond. She remembered how he had nearly killed her, how he sacrificed her life to save his, how he drained out her life… And yet he was standing right before her, giving her the impression that he had changed and improved, that he was different. She promised she would hate him, that she would not fall under the same trap again. It would be too stupid of her. Too silly. He manipulated her, possessed her… He won her with words, simple words that meant absolutely nothing. Nothing to _him_ anyway.

He sat there, studying her, longing for an answer.

"I can't…" she muttered, shaking her head as if to shake off all the thoughts that were telling her to give in.

He held her by the shoulders. "Why are you doing this to yourself? Why are you not allowing yourself to be happy? To be pleased? To live in isolation?"

She looked away without a word. She was too afraid to face him, to meet those dashing yet darkly fervent eyes of his.

"You look different," he continued. "My, you've grown into a woman. A beautiful one, I must say. My guess is that you've come to believe my presence is an evil thing. That _I'm_ an evil thing. An evil _monster_."

"I don't want to believe it."

"Then don't. What? Has the famous Harry Potter been filling your head with ridiculous ideas? What was it like when you awoke in that Chamber of Secrets? What did you feel? What did you think?"

"I was confused." Flashes of memories began to occupy her mind. "I was looking for you. I didn't know where you had gone."

"But then Potter told you?"

"He told me everything."

"And you believe him?"

"It makes sense. It makes so much sense."

Tom nodded slowly. "The first thing you thought of when you awoke was me, wasn't it?" His lips curved into a smile.

"Yes," Ginny admitted ashamedly, unwilling to look at him. Instead, she looked down at her bed.

"And there's a reason for that. It's because you miss me. It's because you want me. And I'm doing you a favour. I've come back. I'm here for you."

She looked back up at him. He looked so sincere, so…not evil. She placed her hand on his cheek as he allowed her to gently caress his face. She then touched his lips with her fingers.

"I must go…" he hushed.

"Will you come back?"

"If you want me to."

She looked at him once more without a word before drifting off to sleep.


End file.
